Kalle Rovanperä’s Rally Finland lead has grown to 14.7 seconds across Saturday morning, despite a rear-right puncture.
The Finn started Saturday’s leg a mere 4.9 seconds clear of reigning world champion Thierry Neuville, but a massive time on Parkkola nearly doubled that advantage to 8.3s.
Neuville prefers more technical stages which the second full day offered, but again he couldn’t live with Rovanperä on Västilä as he pulled 12.0s clear.
However a rear-right puncture (featuring some rim damage) on SS13 cost Rovanperä 2.7s to Neuville who topped the test, but the Toyota was still in charge.
Fastest again on the final stage of the loop, Rovanperä continued to push through his slight discomfort to establish a strong lead.
Although he’s come increasingly close in recent years, Rovanperä is still chasing his first World Rally Championship win at home.
Neuville’s attention is now on team-mate Adrien Fourmaux behind, despite carrying a 5.1s advantage into the loop’s final stage.
Fourmaux outpaced Neuville by 4.8s on that test to close to just 0.3s overall – but there was an explanation.
“I had a brake problem,” Neuville revealed. “It took a long time before it started working again, nothing I can do.”
Even with this rear-right tire at the end of SS13, Rovanperä has been peerless
Takamoto Katsuta struggled with understeer at the beginning of the morning which has left him in no man’s land, despite coming alive as the loop progressed.
Katsuta’s 10.9s off the podium but holds a similar advantage (10.5s) to fifth, where a thrilling fight has developed between three Toyota team-mates.
Sébastien Ogier holds that coveted fifth position over Sami Pajari, but seventh-placed Elfyn Evans is only 2.3s adrift of Ogier in a battle that fluctuated throughout the loop.
Ogier moved ahead on the final stage of the morning, despite feeling like he couldn’t commit. Pajari trails the eight-time champion by 0.9s, with Evans closing in after a strong time on SS14.
Mãrtiņš Sesks is over a minute behind the Toyota tussle in eighth; again leading the M-Sport charge like he did in Estonia. Josh McErlean is 30.2s behind with Grégoire Munster another 46.8s adrift – losing half a minute to his team-mate in just four stages with the handicap of running first on the road.
Ott Tänak is well outside the top-10 following his five-minute penalty following an incident with a steward after SS7 on Friday.
